ANC representative describes March 1, 2008 riots as military coup

PanARMENIAN.Net - Representative of the Armenian National Congress considers March 1, 2008 events to be a military coup.

A conflict on the March 2008 events emerged between ANC representative Gurgen Yeghiazaryan and Republican Party of Armenia parliamentary group member Lernik Aleksanyan during September 5 press conference in Yerevan.

As Eghiazaryan claimed, “in March 2008, the current Armenian leaders came to power through a military coup.” According to him, Armenian authorities “violated the constitution using tanks against the people.”

For his part, Lernik Aleksanyan noted that it was the opposition that attempted to turn a peaceful meeting into a revolution.

Since February 20, 2008 the Armenian opposition headed by the first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrossian, who ran for president and lost, had held meetings in the center of Yerevan to protest the results of election. On March 1-2, protest actions transformed into unrest and clashes between protesters and the police. According to Prosecutor General’s office, about 200 people suffered, 10 were killed and more than 100 arrested.